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Consultant Brian Sweeney, 38, was on his way from Boston to Los Angeles for business. When Sweeney realized the plane was hijacked, he made two phone calls: one to his parents, the other to his wife, Julie. She wasn't home, so he left his last words on the answering machine.

"He was calm and said, `I'm on the plane, it's been hijacked and it doesn't look good. But I want you to know how much I love you and my family,'" said Julie, a physical education and health teacher, from their home in Barnstable, Mass. The two were married in 1999. "He said to live a long life and be happy. And he said he'd see me again soon. Then he said he had to go."

At 9:03 a.m., the plane crashed.

"He enjoyed life more than anyone I've ever known," she said of her husband, an avid boater who loved spending time on the ocean with his wife. "He was one of the most incredible people I knew. Or ever will know."

Profile courtesy of THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE.